Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

While the original Generation I games set the stage for what would come, their Generation III remakes are the definitive place to play through that original journey. FireRed and LeafGreen bring players back to the region of Kanto to re-experience the first Pokémon journey. This was significant in 2004, because it was long before remakes became a staple of the franchise’s business model.

At the time, going back to Kanto in the remakes felt like such a drastic refresh that it was like seeing that setting as you’d imagined it at a younger age. On top of the visual update, FireRed and LeafGreen give the games a contemporary overhaul by adding quality of life changes like the run button, including modern mechanics like breeding, abilities, and cross-gen trading, and swaths of new content to really fill out the package. It is, to this day, the best way to travel through the original Kanto region. It might not have that same classic nostalgia tied to it the way Red and Blue does or have the novelty of Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, but it is the definitive Kanto game.